My Hero
by Ac Colins
Summary: Lash doesn't want a sidekick. Glory doesn't really care. LashXoc
1. Sneer

**I don't own Sky High or anything therein. I can only claim Glory and Whistler. Rock on.**

1

**Lash –**

When in doubt sneer.

I stared down at this…thing on my front porch and saw she was sneering right back. She was tall, solid. Not fat, Speed was fat, this girl was… 'fit'. She had sunglasses shoved back over her head, pushing her short, dark curls straight up. Her hazel eyes drifted over me with disinterest. A stud glinted in her nose, and her square jaw was set in irritation.

"You Lash Livingston?" she asked. Her voice was soft and there was a slight arrogance to it that was vaguely familiar. Annoying. I nodded and her face darkened like I had just personally burst a rain cloud over her head. "Then I guess that I'm your sidekick."

What. The. Fuck.

When Powers had told me she was assigning me a sidekick after graduation, I assumed that she had been joking. What would possess that woman into thinking I would ever fight crime? Or that I would need a sidekick to do it? Or that I would need a sidekick like…

"Who the hell are you?" I asked. I probably shouldn't have.

She frowned like she didn't even trust me with her name, but stuck out her hand. "Glory Boomer."

It was my turn to frown. Boomer. Boomer? No. No, no, no. "Boomer? As in Sonic Boom?"

"As in the walking mouthpiece? Yeah, that's my dad."

And then I laughed. I laughed because it was all too funny. Powers had sent a chick after me to be my 'hero' support in some last attempt to draw me away from evil. And Coach Boomer's daughter was a sidekick. Ouch.

I closed the door in her face and walked upstairs.

Powers had sent me a sidekick.

Poor kid. She wouldn't be seeing much action.

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	2. Options

**I don't own Sky High or anything therein. I can only claim Glory and Whistler. Rock on.**

2

**Glory –**

He closed the door in my face. What a drama queen. He had smirked through the entire conversation, showing as much interest in me as I felt for him. Zero. He didn't want a sidekick and I didn't want him to be my hero. Not that it mattered at this point. I had been eight balled by Powers and I knew it. Four years of hero support and I was stuck with Lash Livingston, resident idiot and crime lord in training.

A villain.

There really was no justice in the universe. I sat on his front porch and considered my options. I could sit there until he came out and then stalk him into accepting this match up. I could kick in his door and beat the shit out of him, just for funsies. Or I could call my dad and admit that I've failed again.

Option number two was the only one that didn't make me feel like vomiting into the immaculately kept roses that were growing next to the steps. Still I was fairly certain if it came to a fight, Lash would have the advantage. I couldn't exactly wow him with my power. After all…side kick.

"Who the hell are you?"

Great.

I would recognize Speed anywhere. He had thrown my books off the school our junior year. It was nice to see that he remembered me. "Glory," I mumbled nodding to him.

"What kind of psycho name is that?" he demanded.

"I dunno, what sort of name is _Speed_? It's not like anyone knew your power when you were born."

His eyes narrowed. Now that he knew he was dealing with another super he was a bit more interested. "It's just a nickname."

"Well, it isn't a very clever one, is it?"

The door opened being me and a hand snaked across the porch grabbing Speed's shirt collar. "Don't talk to her." I heard Lash's voice behind me and he dragged Speed into his house. "Go home, sidekick."

I put my head in my hands.

Son of a bitch.

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	3. Grilled Cheese

**Sky High is property of its respective owners and affiliates. Glory and Whistler, however...mine.**

3

**Lash –**

Speed is…an idiot.

"There's a hot chick sitting on your porch." He felt he had to alert me to my unwelcome visitor.

"Thanks, I know." I peeked out the blinds. She was still just sitting there, her head buried in her arms. She looked miserable.

Good.

"Well, what is she doing out _there_ and why isn't she in _here_ naked?"

I glared at him. "She's not recreational, Speed, she's my…" I nearly choked on the word, "sidekick."

I knew he would laugh. That's just the sort of friend Speed is. Kick'em when they're down, and all. "What do you need a sidekick for?" he demanded. "Are you going straight on me? Gonna get a job, and wear a tie, and drive a _minivan_?"

"Will you shut the fuck up? I didn't ask for a sidekick. She just showed up." I scowled back at the window. She was just sitting there. Why the hell didn't she go home?

Speed was at the other window, positively gleeful. "What are you going to do with her?"

Christ, what was I _supposed_ to do with her? "I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to wait until she goes away and then I'm going to go make a grilled cheese."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "I think you are missing a golden opportunity here, Lash. You've got a sidekick. That means you're in charge. Hell, you want a grilled cheese? Get her to make it for you. Get her to clean your room. Oh! Get her to clean Whistler's room!"

The mention of my older brother made me flinch. I glanced at the clock. Shit. He'd be home soon and I had some goody two shoes sidekick sitting on the front porch. Whistler would not be pleased.

People thought that I was trouble, but I wasn't even a blip on the villain radar compared to Whistler. The difference was he was sneaky about it. Whistler was charming, and friendly, and just so damn _good_…that was what made him dangerous. He played the hero so well.

Speed seemed to be thinking the same thing. "What is Whistler going to think, man?"

We were about to find out. My brother appeared in the front yard, popping out of thin air like it was no big deal. To her credit, my sidekick didn't so much as blink. She lifted an eyebrow as he approached the steps.

I couldn't look away. Well...at least this would solve my sidekick problem.

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	4. The Ghost

**Sky High is owned by its owners and not me. I can only claim Glory and Whistler. **

4

**Glory –**

I don't know where he came from, but I like to think I hid my surprise well. I'm not much of a scream queen.

"Can I help you with something?"

He was good looking in a dark sort of way. He smiled and sat down next to me. He was maybe a few years older than I was. Twenty-one, twenty-two at the most. He looked like Lash with slightly darker hair and broader shoulders. I shook my head. "I was just thinking of ways to remove Lash's head from his body."

"Hedge clippers," he answered instantly.

"I can see you've given this some previous thought." I couldn't help but smile at that. "You related to him?"

"His brother. I'm Whistler."

Ah, I knew about Whistler. He was known as 'The Ghost' among the supers. He was a teleporter, but had a skill with invisibility and force fields, as well. I didn't realize he was related to Lash. "My condolences." At least someone else knew what I was going to have to endure. Well, what I would have to endure if Lash ever opened the damn door.

_I suggest you run._

_Yes, run or he will kill you. _

_He's already killed today._

_Yesterday, too._

I blinked, but my expression never changed. My powers _suck_. "Well, when you see Lash, tell him it's inevitable and the longer he drags this out the more painful it will be for him." I stood up and stretched while the voices only I could hear urged me to put distance between myself and Lash's brother. So much for The Ghost being a good guy.

"Nice meeting you," I lied through my teeth and headed down the sidewalk. It was a long walk home but I didn't care. Anything was better than listening to Whistler's sneakers tell me he was going to kill me.

Why didn't things just shut up?

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_So? Did you figure out Glory's power? huh? Did 'ya? -Ace_


	5. Loud

**Sky High and all of its variables are property of their respective owners. I only own Glory and Whistler.**

5

**Glory –**

"Well?"

I sighed and stared down at my plate. We didn't even make it through dinner. "He's an asshole." My mom froze with her fork halfway to her mouth and my dad glared daggers at me. "He doesn't want a sidekick. I thought maybe you could ask Powers to—"

"No." I sort of figured that would be the answer I got, but I had to ask. My dad grumbled over his couscous. "No special favors, Glory. I know this kid. He's second rate scum, but he's _your_ hero. You have to…support him."

I knew how much it literally pained him to say that. The last four years were spent with my father not even acknowledging the fact the Powers had put me into hero support halfway through my freshman year. Four years of him not really acknowledging _me _because I had asked her to make the transfer happen.

It killed my dad, but there wasn't much I could do with my power. I guess I could gather information, but…sorting out the noise was difficult. I could hardly make sense of what I heard. I was little more than useless.

Things spoke to me. No, not plants, not animals…things. Inanimate objects. Anything that isn't strictly alive. For instance, we were sitting down eating dinner. The table was talking, the chair was talking, the tile was talking, the utensils were _screaming_, napkins, light bulbs, plates, glasses, salt and fucking pepper…talking. Even the _food_. Do you know what's it's like to bite into something that is literally singing Yankee Doodle? I do. And it's fucking annoying.

"But he won't even talk to me." I was aware I was whining a bit. I think I was entitled to a whine every now and again. I mean, I'm usually pretty stiff upper lip about things, but I was tired, and cranky, and Lash Livingston was my hero. I deserved one good breakdown.

My dad just fixed me with a cold stare. "Glory, what is the rule in this house?"

I sighed and chased a yodeling pea around my plate with my fork. "No whiner babies," I mumbled. "But dad, he's _terrible_."

"Don't worry about the _hero_, Glory. From what I can tell heroes aren't so great." My eyes got wide as Meta interjected and my father slammed his fist down on the table.

"Get that thing off the table. NOW!" Sonic Boom let loose with a wave of sound that nearly knocked me out of my seat. I grabbed Meta before he met some terrible fate at the hands of my dad and jammed him into my pocket.

My dad. There was zero sympathy from that quarter. I knew it without looking up from my plate.

_He really does hate you, you know._

Great. A pair of gym shorts just ruined my night.

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	6. You'll Be Sorry

**Sky High and all of its variables are property of their respective owners. I own only Glory and Whistler.**

6

**Lash –**

"Look who's back! Man, she doesn't give up." Speed stared out my bedroom window. A tall girl with short, dark curls was crossing the street and heading straight for the house. It had been like this every day for two weeks. She would show up and knock on the door. Sometimes I would answer and tell her to get lost. Sometimes I would ignore her completely. But always she would sit on the steps, waiting. When Whistler showed up, she would sigh and leave, without so much as looking back. It was our routine now. "She definitely looks good in black."

I refused to agree with him. She was in a black and white baseball shirt and I couldn't help but notice that she did fill out her black jeans in all the right places. She stopped in the middle of the road to retie her white converse and I nearly banged my face on the glass. That was most definately a thong. Her sunglasses were low on her nose and she pushed them up with her middle finger. That's when we both realized she knew we were watching and we scrambled away from the window.

Speed was laughing. "She's got balls, man! Come on, let her be your sidekick! I can think of a mission or two for her." He wiggled his eyebrows and I laughed.

_Slam_.

My laughter died in my throat. That wasn't a knock. That was…she wouldn't just... Footsteps came up the steps and Speed and I just stared at each other. Did my sidekick just B&E? My bedroom door banged open and there stood the sidekick, a bit flushed. She was awful cute when she was mad.

"This is getting out of hand," she snapped. "I get that you don't want a sidekick, and believe me I would rather be assigned to a _real_ hero, but we're stuck. So stop ignoring me or I will make your life hell. Understand?"

Speed smirked from behind her and pantomimed smacking her in the ass.

I didn't miss the dig. A _real_ hero. I was a hero…maybe not in the technical save the world, fight evil definition of the word, but I'm still a super. I'm _real._ I struggled to come up with something worth saying, if only to get my dignity back, but all I could come up with was, "How'd you get in?" Brilliant, Lash. Just…brilliant. She tossed something at me and it landed beside me on the bed. It was the spare key to the house that we kept under a rock in the backyard. How the hell did she…"What's your power?"

"I dunno. Am I your sidekick yet?"

Fuck, I couldn't even remember her name. "What's your name again, sidekick?"

Her jaw clenched, annoyed that she actually unimportant enough for me to remember, but honestly, what did she expect? I had only talked to her for about five minutes total over the last two weeks. "It's Glory."

Shit, how had I forgotten that? "Sorry, sidekick, but I don't have a use for you."

Her eyes narrowed for a split second before she smoothed her face out into a pleasant smile. "Suit yourself, Lash."

"You can be _my_ sidekick," Speed said from right behind her. "I have plenty of uses for you." She looked over her shoulder, irritated, but not intimidated.

"I'll take you down too, Speed, don't think I won't."

He laughed in her face. "You're a sidekick. What could you possibly do to me?"

She was looking at him…no, past him, her head tilted to the side. "Well, I could tell you that you absolutely masturbate more than the average adolescent male. Seriously, stop before it falls off."

Speed turned bright red but shrugged. "So?"

Glory's eyebrow hopped up and she leaned in to whisper in Speed's ear. His jaw dropped and without a word he fled. _Fled._ She had just chased my best friend out of the house. She turned her hazel eyes on me. "Well?"

"What did you say to him?" I couldn't help but be curious. Speed was a pervert and was proud of it. Anything that would embarrass him that badly had to be good.

Glory pursed her lips. "That's for my hero to know," she said snippily. "Let me know when you've had enough, Lash." She brushed her hand over my pillow before she walked out and left me standing in my room wondering one thing.

Enough of what?

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	7. Pillow Fight

**Sky High isn't mine. I can only lay claim to Glory and Whistler.**

7

**Glory –**

I woke up disoriented and with a hand over my mouth. Of course I panicked. Something was wrapped around my torso, keeping my arms pinned to my sides. What the fuck?

"It's the _hero."_ I heard Meta sneer from my side table and I relaxed, biting the hand that was pressed against my mouth. Lash cursed and let go. His arms snapped back, uncoiling from around me and giving me a bit of space.

"Thanks, Meta." I sat up and glared at the intruder. It _was _Lash. He stood there, looking pissed and holding his pillow. I grinned. Never mind that it was three in the morning, or that he had just broken into my house. Never mind that he had scared me to death.

I had won.

"Is something the matter, Lash?" I kept my face and my voice totally innocent. I knew exactly what was wrong, but I wanted to hear him say it.

He was panting, standing in front of me, holding his pillow away from his body like it was poison. "Fix it," he snarled. He held the pillow out to me, anger in every line of his face.

"Hello again," I said amiably.

"Yes, yes, hello. You certainly made him angry. You'd think after listening to him snore for the last six years he wouldn't mind it if I chatted with him, but no," the pillow in his hand started to speak aloud and I watched with amusement as Lash growled. "He is rather vexed with you."

I reached over and touched the pillow and it immediately fell silent as I drew my power back out of it. Lash swung the now unconscious pillow at my face, furious. He knocked me clean out of my bed and continued to beat the sense out of me with the stupid pillow. "You said you were a sidekick!"

"I _am_ a sidekick! Knock it off!" I kicked his legs out and he clattered to the floor in a lanky heap. That's the trouble with the kids put in 'hero' classes. They rely so heavily on their powers they don't stop to think that someone could just kick their ass. Dad knew better. Even if I was just a lowly sidekick he had put me in self defense classes 'for my own protection'.

Although to be perfectly honest, I was doing less defending and more attacking at the moment. I had grabbed my own pillow and was doing my best to suffocate Lash. We grappled for about thirty seconds before I tried to get to the door and he tackled my knees. We both crashed into the carpet.

"If you two don't stop, you'll wake up Boomer."

I froze and Lash got one last whack in. "Who said that?" he asked looking around. The pillow was still poised over my head so I grabbed it out of his hands before pointing to the night table.

"Lash, meet Meta. Meta, this is Lash." I introduced my closest friend to my supposed hero and waited.

Lash stared at Meta. "Glory, that's a rock."

"You're right, he _is _an idiot." Meta's sharp voice cut through the room and I snickered.

Yeah. Meta was a rock.

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	8. Animate Your World

**I don't own Sky High or any of its characters. I do claim Glory and Whistler, however.**

8

**Lash –**

That bitch. She powered up my pillow. My _pillow_. One minute I'm sleeping, the next the damn thing is jabbering away in my ear, ordering me to stop drooling on it immediately…

What the fuck?

Of course I knew who was to blame. Glory. Who the hell else?

I snuck over to her house and stretched up to her window. It was unlocked. How stupid could she be? Anyone could just climb in…like me. Her room wasn't what I expected. There was nothing personal about it. Like it was a prison cell instead of a chick's room. There was close to nothing in it. There was a mattress on the floor in the corner and a nearly empty closet. A small table with a lamp was by the door, but other than that…the room was bare.

I had my pillow under my arm and it jabbered incessantly. Knowing who else was asleep in the house, I put my hand over her mouth so she wouldn't scream bloody murder. Like I expected, she woke up fairly violent and I wrapped my other arm around her a few times.

Then she bit me.

The uppity bitch bit me.

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"You're right, Glory, he _is_ an idiot."

I have never been insulted by a rock before.

"Do you want to get off of me?" I hadn't realized I was still holding Glory down. I also hadn't realized that Glory slept in a pair of soccer shorts and a sports bra. The end. Go figure, I'm finally straddling a hot, half naked chick and I hate her freaking guts. I let her up and she harrumphed before she perched on her bed, the offending rock in hand. "Meta don't be rude."

She was giving the rock a lesson in manners. I looked around the room again. The walls didn't look _padded_…"How are you a sidekick?" I asked. I couldn't even remember her from school. I knew that Boomer had kids, I just hadn't thought about it beyond that. Who would want to? I couldn't remember anyone mentioning a sidekick with the power to animate the inert. I felt like something like that would come up.

"It's like…Franken-pebble."

Meta chuckled. "Maybe not a complete idiot, eh Glory?"

"Don't let him fool you." Her voice was low and annoyed. "So what will it be, Livingston? Do you want a sidekick or do I animate everything in your world?"

She was threatening me. What sort of sidekick was she? First of all her power was…beyond wicked. Second of all she wasn't some weak, sniveling, nervous nerd. Speed was right. She was hot and she was ballsy. It…it didn't compute.

"What would we have to do?" I hoped that distracting her with questions would buy me some time. I meant what I said about not wanting to be a hero. "I'm not going to walk around in tights pulling cats out of trees and helping little old ladies cross the road."

Glory snickered. "And here I had you pegged as an Eagle Scout."

"I suggest you take this outside before your father hears you." The rock in her hand didn't move, but the voice was unmistakable.

"Fine. You want to come, Meta, or do you want to stay?" Glory asked.

"I'll stay."

Glory grabbed a t-shirt out of her closet and tugged it on without giving me so much as a glance. She opened her door and looked down the hall before signaling me to go. I rolled my eyes but followed her down the steps and out the front door.

We started to walk.

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	9. Done For

**Sky High and its characters are property of their respective owners. Not mine.**

9

**Glory –**

"So…what am I supposed to do with a sidekick?" Lash finally asked. We were just walking around Maxville, trying not to provoke one another.

I shrugged. "Well, we're supposed to fight crime, but you've made it perfectly clear where you stand on that issue." I stuck a finger in my ears. We were passing a garbage can and it was like moving through a crowd. Dozens of different conversations started as soon as I got close and it made me dizzy.

My power suck-suck-_SUCKS_.

"Well then what the hell am I supposed to do with you?" he demanded, just as frustrated as me. "I don't want to fight crime…you wouldn't want to be a henchman, would you?"

"Lash Livingston you did not just ask me to go villain!"

He smirked at me. "I bet you'd like it."

I made a face. "Sure. Do what you want, when you want, and damn the consequence. The trouble is, Lash there is always a consequence. And while _you_ are able to take care of yourself, all I've got are talking rocks. I'm not cut out for evil."

"I don't know. You just snuck out of your house. With a guy. A guy you _know_ your father doesn't like."

Well, he had me there. "But this is basic teen rebellion. This is just normal bad. This isn't super."

"I think you could be super bad if you wanted."

I did _not_ like the way he said that. I was going to have to start sleeping in flannel pajamas and locking my window. I glared at him. "You know, that is not a compliment."

Lash just shrugged. "I think it is."

It was my turn to smirk. "Than just wait until I tell Speed that you _complimented_ me. He'll die of shock. What will your fellow baddies think of you being nice to your sidekick?"

"I am not being nice to you!" He got defensive and I couldn't help but laugh.

"But I _am_ your sidekick?" I asked, trying to twist him up.

"Yes. No! I don't want a sidekick!"

Had he never seen a Bugs Bunny Cartoon? Seriously, he was easier to tie in knots than climbing rope. "So you don't want to be my hero?"

"Yes...no! Stop trying to confuse me!" He finally caught on and lunged at me, but I was expecting it. With a yelp I dodged him, tripping him as he went past me. I sat on his back ready to crow in victory when he twisted around at an impossible angle.

"Shit." I forgot that he was a fucking rubber band.

I scrambled away from him, stuttering. "Hey, it's all in fun, Lash! I was only…Gah!" He had stretched out and grabbed my arms, pegging me against a tree that was on the other side of the yard. "For crying out loud, Lash! What if someone looks out their window?"

His arms went around me like a boa constrictor, so that I was bound waist to shoulder. Than he squeezed. I let out one panicked gasp and shut my mouth as quickly as I could. I would not be afraid of him. He was coming closer his face clearly furious.

He was going to kill me.

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	10. End It

**I don't own Sky High. I only own Glory and Whistler.**

10

**Lash –**

I was going to kill her.

Who did she think she was? First she haunts my pillow. Then I have to walk across half of Maxville just to have her fix it. I had to break into her stupid room, got insulted by a _rock_, only to wind up walking around town with her at three…make that four in the morning. Then she has the audacity to…to…

Man, she smelled good.

Wait...what was I doing? Oh, yeah. Killing Glory.

I was right in front of her and I pulled my arms a bit tighter giving her no space between me and the tree. Her eyes widened with fear. Good. She should be afraid of me. She can't defend herself against me. Not really. She's fast, and she's decent at knocking me on my ass, but you can't really do much damage to elastic. And the worst she could do would be to animate something…but from what I could tell that was only mildly annoying. Not dangerous.

"Lash…air." Glory's voice was thin, weak. Against my better judgment, I loosened my grip and I heard her greedily pant in a few deep breaths. My arms recoiled until they were just looped around her normally. Like anyone else's arms. She really did smell good.

"You _asshole_!" My entire body snapped to the right as Glory threw her fist into my jaw. I won't lie. It hurt like hell but I didn't give her any response other than a glare. She shoved me away from her and took a few wobbly steps back in the direction we had come. She paused just as she reached the sidewalk. "You're pathetic," she threw back over her shoulder. With absolute resolution she walked away and disappeared into the night.

I slumped down under the tree, too annoyed to walk home just yet. I _was_ pathetic. Pathetic and anticlimactic. All I had to do was hold on for a little longer and my sidekick problem would have been all taken care of. Yeah, I had wanted to kill Glory Boomer. That wasn't nearly as upsetting as the other thought that had popped up out of nowhere.

I had wanted to kiss her, too.

I started the long walk home and resisted the urge to kick my own ass for being such a wuss.

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"Where's your girlfriend? I haven't seen her around for a while?" Whistler was sitting on the kitchen counter, gnawing on a Poptart. I shrugged and started drinking out of the orange juice container. Mom would have flipped out if she had seen me, but after doing a stint in solitary, being sent to my room didn't really have the same affect on me. OJ just tastes better out of the carton.

I had no idea where Glory was. Presumably she was at her own house. She hadn't been around for two weeks and that was fine with me. Absolutely fine. I couldn't care less. Why would I care?

I hadn't even noticed.

Glory who?

Whistler was watching me carefully. People have said that we looked alike, but I disagree. There's a chill in his eyes that I have not quite mastered. It was a look that clearly said, 'nothing is beyond me'. I wanted that look. It meant power.

"Too bad. She was cute." I glared at him and he just smirked at me. "She was _way _out of your league, though. Girls like that just scream 'the greater good', you know? I've seen her down at the police station helping out. They've got a whole brigade of sidekick rejects. I wonder what idiot cut her loose? Even if her power sucked, I'd keep her around just to look at."

I gritted my teeth. I couldn't tell if he knew it was me and was just being a dick or if he really had no idea that _I _had been assigned Glory's hero. Hadn't she explained why she was on the porch day after day? "Don't really care, Whistler."

He shrugged and lifted his eyebrows, already losing interest in the conversation. "How'd you like to make some fast cash tonight?" he asked as I put the OJ back in the fridge. "You and Speed. I might have a job."

"Hell yes." I leaned on the opposite counter. "What's the job?"

It was dangerous to question Whistler about anything, but if anyone could get away with it, it was me. "Let's just say a client's being hassled and would like me to take care of it quick."

I nodded. It was typically vague, but at least I knew we weren't robbing a bank. This was business, not pleasure. Cool. I called Speed and he was standing in the kitchen before I could even hang up. "I hate when you do that."

He just grinned. "I know."

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Fuck. _Fuck._

Speed took off like a bullet and was gone before I could form a coherent thought. I looked down at the woman in front of me, blood gurgling out of her mouth instead of the words she was clearly trying to say. I backed away, horrified and looked to my brother for some sort of guidance. He would know what to do. He was the freaking Ghost after all. He would know who to call for help. How the hell had she fallen over the banister like that? Who would put a banister there in the first place?

"Oh, fuck. Please don't die."

Whistler came down the steps slowly. Normally, I love how calm Whistler is. Nothing shakes him up. Ever. But still I would have felt a better if he had indicated even a smidge of panic. "What have we learned, Christine?" He stood over the woman even as she tried to crawl away from him. "Lash? End it."

Clearly, I heard him wrong.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" I did not join up for this. Money? Hell yes. I'll lie, and I'll cheat, and I'll steal the pants off of you, but I'm not a murderer.

"She's seen us, Lash. The minute we leave she'll call the police. End it, Lash. Consider it a mercy killing. She's just going to bleed out anyway." Whistler watched my face carefully. Slowly, his brow drew down. "Hmm…maybe you weren't ready for this yet. It's alright. Another time." A force field slammed down on top of the woman and there was the sickening crack of bone breaking.

"No. No, no, no." I wanted to throw up, I felt it there, rising in my throat but nothing happened. I was frozen, staring at the woman. She was dead. There was nothing else she could be. Dead. Dead, dead, dead.

Whistler had just murdered someone in cold blood. He looked over at me and smirked. "There should be some money in the drawers upstairs. Why don't you go take a look?"

Money? What the hell was he talking about? This was supposed to be a quick job. In and Out. A couple bucks in it for incentive. This wasn't supposed to turn into…

I ran.

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	11. Glory Has a Bad Idea

**I don't own Sky High. Oh, well.**

11

**Glory –**

"The _hero_'s back, Glory." I heard Meta, but I really didn't want to wake up. My dream was so nice and Lash…Lash was a nightmare. "Glory, wake up. This is not a drill, kid, wake up!"

I opened an eye and glanced around the room. Lash was standing just inside the window, looking like hell. He was pale, his eyes wide and unseeing. For a moment I wondered if he even knew where he was. "Lash? What are you doing here?"

My voice seemed to snap him out of it. He turned his eyes on me and I really wish that he hadn't. He looked freaked the fuck out. "She's dead. He…he just killed her. He killed her like it didn't even matter."

"Huh? Wha…what happened?" I was still half asleep. Someone was dead? What the hell? I hadn't seen him for weeks, not since his little episode under the tree. Or maybe it was _my_ little episode. Whatever, I hadn't seen him since I had punched him in the face. "What are you doing here?"

He looked confused. "It was supposed to be a quick job, but…he just killed her."

We weren't getting anywhere. I tuned out everything else as I listened to his clothes. Most of them were foreign made so they gave me nothing but a headache, but his watch spoke clearly if in annoying ticking words. _Whistler. Killed a. Woman. Lash and. Speed. Ran._

"Killed…what the hell did you do?"

_Lash. Is. Innocent. _

It really didn't matter. He was in trouble anyway. _Real _trouble. Even if he had only been a witness, he was implicated in a murder. You know, other girls have easy lives. They are pretty, and smart, with an awesome power, and they land the hero. Hell, they _are _the hero. I wind up with a villain that decides it's ok to turn my room in to his hide out.

He really did look upset, though.

"Lash, it's alright. You didn't do anything." I tried my hardest to sound convincing.

"He killed her. Right in front of us. For _nothing_."

Something flashed outside the window and we both froze. "Police," Meta alerted. We glanced out the window and saw several squad cars pulling up and down the street. They were searching. Lash dove at the window, thinking he would beat a hasty escape but I intercepted him and we both fell onto the carpet.

"Don't. Don't run, Lash. Running is what guilty people do."

He struggled, going all rubbery and twisting around. "After what happened at school last year, they won't care if I'm guilty or not. I'm Lash Livingston, villain, and that's all they will see. Someone is dead, Glory. Dead_._ They'll pin this on me."

Why would he pick that particular moment to be intelligent? Where was his brain an hour ago when he thought that breaking into someone's house was a good idea? "Lash, I know you didn't hurt her. I believe you."

"You don't believe me!" He elbowed me in the jaw trying to get away and I saw stars, gasping in pain. "You believe whatever piece of _clothes_ told you I didn't do it."

I held my jaw and tried to push back the painful tears that burned my eyes. "You can't just run. You can tell the police. You can tell them it was Whistler."

He laughed. It was a scornful sound but he did stop fighting me. "You want me to tell Maxville Police that The Ghost, one of their favorite superheroes, just committed a crime?"

"Oh, Lash." He was right, of course. I worked with police enough times that I knew how highly they all thought of Whistler. Still, if Lash hadn't done anything wrong… A car door slammed outside and we both scrambled back to the window. A cruiser had pulled up outside and two officers were on their way up the walk, plastic evidence bags in their hands.

"Shit!" I dragged him away from the window.

He was incredulous. "How did they find me?"

"They didn't. They're here for me." I was standing in the middle of my room rapidly joining him in a full fledged panic. "They bring by evidence since I can hear things…"

"Glory!" Meta hissed. "You need to have a good reason for having Lash in here and fast."

Down stairs the doorbell rang followed by several sharp knocks.

I shook my head. "Dammit, Lash, why did you come here?" I threw my hands up, exasperated. I could hear my parents' bedroom door open and someone head downstairs.

"You're my sidekick." He sounded so bewildered and sincere I did a double take, just to make sure that it really was him that stood next to me. The door opened downstairs and Lash looked sick. I suddenly missed his usual smirk and arrogance. That I could deal with. Subdued, defeated Lash was too damn pathetic. "What do we do?"

Clearly no one explained to him that hero supports just stand back and let the 'hero' take care of business. That probably wasn't going to work this time.

Alright, think Glory. What is a good excuse to have a possible criminal in your bedroom in the middle of the night? No…not a criminal. A guy. A guy in my room…

Oh, I was going to regret this, I just knew it.

"Meta?"

"I've got you covered, darling," he said immediately.

"You'll have to cover us both. Let's say just before midnight." I looked at Lash and growled. "If you tell anyone about this, the police will be the least of your problems." I couldn't believe I was even considering helping him. His brother had just killed someone. He had just stood by and let it happen, and implicated Glory in the process. I should be tossing him to the cops, serving him up with fries and a pickle spear…but I just couldn't do it. "Hurry up!"

"What are you talking about?" Lash demanded.

God help me. "Take off your pants."

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	12. Best Idea Ever

**I own Glory, Meta, and Whistler. Sky High belongs to its respective owners.**

12

**Lash –**

My brain wasn't working. I must have been more traumatized by watching my brother commit murder than I thought. I could have sworn that Glory had just ordered me to take my pants off.

"Lash, there is no time for you to stand there like an idiot. You need an alibi and I need an explanation for why you're here at two am, so take. Off. Your. Pants."

I swear if I hadn't listened she would have done it herself. I caught on fairly quickly and I will say this for Glory Boomer. She is a genius. An _evil _genius. Someone was coming up the steps and I immediately undid my jeans, kicking them off while I lost my t-shirt as well. She looked annoyed but Meta gave me all the incentive I needed.

"Better make it believable," the rock said. "Incoming."

We tripped over each other, landing on her mattress and scrambling to get in a comfortable position. "Stop moving around, you ass, and pretend to be asleep!" She hissed in my ear. I immediately played dead. I felt her curl up next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. "Breathe a word of this to anyone, especially Speed, and I will beat the shit out of you." Her lips brushed my ear when she said it and I nearly went brain dead. Girls need to know right now, you can't _do _that to a guy and expect us to think straight.

I slid my arm around her and pulled her closer. "This isn't going to work," I whispered. Whoever was heading down the hall had stopped to yell softly down the steps. "There is no way someone is going to buy this. It's so obviously fake."

"Then you think of something, _hero_."

Did she have to say it like that? She didn't have to be so damned intelligent all the time, did she? "Fine."

I rolled, flattening her into the mattress. She tried to shove me away. "Don't." I whispered. "Just…go with it." I hesitated only another second before I attacked her mouth, kissing her without restraint. She twitched beneath me, growling angrily against my lips.

Not going to lie, that was probably the hottest noise that I have ever heard. I bit down on her lip. Not hard, just teasing, and she pulled my hair, warning me to knock it off. I recoiled my arms and caught her wrists, pinning them up over her head with one hand.

"What are you doing?" she hissed. The footfalls were getting closer.

I couldn't help but grin. "Selling it." I'm Lash Livingston and I know when and how to take advantage of a situation. I yanked her shorts clean off, leaving her in only her underwear. Before she could say anything, I kissed her again. God, she smelled like something spicy…somehow like Christmas…it was clouding my brain. This was seriously the best idea ever. I was trying to remember why we were in this position in the first place, but I didn't care anymore to be honest. There was only the girl beneath me our suddenly ragged breathing.

"GLORY!"

We snapped apart as the noise hit us and Glory looked horrified from me to the man standing in the door. "Daddy!"

I couldn't help it. Honestly, I couldn't. I smirked at Coach Boomer and waved. "Hey, coach."

Glory was flustered enough to sound truly angry. "Daddy, get out!"

Boomer grabbed her arm and yanked her out of from under me. There was the sound of feet coming up the steps and two police officers barged into the small room. It must have been one hell of a sight. I was still sitting in the bed in just my boxers. Boomer was shaking Glory like he thought loose change would spill out. Glory was matching his indignation, shouting right back at Boomer with her kiss-swollen lips, and the crazy rock on the table was shouting bloody murder.

Murder…

Oh, God.

I had completely forgotten.

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	13. Police and Clocks

**I own Glory, Meta, and Whistler. Sky High belongs to its respective owners.**

13

**Glory –**

I would never be clean again.

I could still feel his hands on me, his mouth on mine, and I shivered. The jerk had taken complete advantage of the situation. Why did I think I could help him? He's a complete and total criminal. He _is_ a villain.

Lash and I were on the couch downstairs, both back in our clothes. He had his arm on the couch behind me, a smirk on his face. I swear to God, if he 'sneezed' he would need reconstructive surgery. One of the police officers was in the living room with my mom trying to calm down my dad. The other cop was standing nearby, trying not to laugh.

"Why are you even here?" I demanded. My arm hurt like hell where dad had grabbed me and my jaw ached every time I opened my mouth courtesy of Lash's elbow.

The cop shook his head at us and rolled his flashlight in his hands. "Had a bit of work for you, Glory. Didn't know you were…occupied."

Lash snorted and I felt him looking at me, waiting for my answer. "Neither did my father, thank you very much. He'll probably put bars on my window, now."

"Then I'll have to use the door next time." I tensed as Lash leaned over and kissed my temple, like he had a right to do it. I kept my hands in my lap instead of choking the life out of him and settled for a scowl.

"That's if you survive the night," I told him. I looked pointedly into the dining room where the other police officer was still trying to settle Sonic Boom. "So what's the job?" I asked.

Lash tensed next to me and I put my hand on his knee to stop the anxious bouncing that was shaking the whole couch. His eyes slid to me and he almost smiled. His arm came down from the couch to settle around me.

Dammit.

The cop pulled out two evidence bags and tossed them to me, forcing me to pay attention. "I _hate_ clocks," I moaned as I examined the contents of the first bag. It was a mantle clock. They always tended to see what was going on, but they also had an annoying ticking speech that made me want to rip their faces off. I listened while it recounted the break-in in slow, agonizing detail. I don't know when the first tear rolled down my cheek, but a long finger wiped it away and I jumped. I looked at Lash and his eyes were concerned. Actually concerned. He knew what I was hearing.

"Well?" The officer demanded.

The concern left Lash's face and his eyes narrowed. It was all on me now, and we both knew it.

"It wasn't a break in gone bad," I said at last, closing the bag and shuddering. "It was intentional. Whoever killed her did it on purpose. Whoever did it, they didn't show themselves. You're looking for someone that can go invisible."

Lash glared, but I didn't bother looking at him. I might not have mentioned the Ghost by name, but I wasn't about to lie outright. The other cop came in, dad right behind him. He was looking angrier than I have ever seen him and that did not bode well for me. Or for Lash.

Mom came and sat on my other side, planting a kiss into my hair. She offered Lash a small smile. Oh, God, my mom thought he was…this was a nightmare. "Did she help?" my mom asked pleasantly as if hosting police and finding her daughter mid-tumble with a villain were normal dead of night activities.

The officer nodded. "Well, she couldn't give us a name, but we know now it wasn't a break-in. Mal intent, Bowman," he told his partner. "It was another super. One that go turn himself invisible so we're going to have a hell of a time figuring this out."

The walkie on Bowman's shoulder suddenly chirped and we all tensed as the voice crackled into the room.

"_In relation to the Aminpur break-in: One suspect in custody."_

Lash and I both held our breaths. I don't know who took whose hand, but my fingers ached from holding on so tightly. "Go ahead, Deb," Bowman replied and an answer came back almost immediately.

"_Aaron DeBlois, aka Speed, was caught with property belonging to the victim. Also claims that Lash Livingston was an accomplice."_

We all looked at Lash, myself included. His jaw dropped a bit, but quickly closed it with an audible snap.

"Who, me?"

My hero is an idiot.

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	14. looooooooove

**I own only Glory, Whistler and Meta. Sky High is property of its respective owners.**

14

**Lash –**

I can't believe Speed ratted me out. Glory fucking Boomer was covering for me, but my own best friend had rolled over and given up my name. Why hadn't he mentioned Whistler, too? Probably for the same reason I wouldn't. Who would believe him?

Lots of unbelievable going around.

Glory was looking at me like she didn't know what to think and I couldn't help but feel nervous. What the hell was she looking at me like that for? She knew I didn't do anything wrong…at least, she knew I didn't _kill_ someone. Was she rethinking her decision to help me? She just heard what happened from the clock. She'd just had to hear about that woman's death. Maybe she had just realized I wasn't worth all this trouble… Her expression clearly said that I was fucked.

"I didn't do it," I said finally, and Glory let out a breath, looking relieved.

She really is quite the actress.

Glory opened the bag with the clock again. "What time, tick-tock?" she demanded. She listened and rolled her eyes. "You're guy's a liar. The clock says the perp went in at quarter after one. Lash has been here since before midnight."

I stared at her. She was really covering for me.

Holy crap.

The other cop, Bowman, took a step forward, fingering the special cuffs that hung on his belt. The cuffs that neutralized super powers. "Are you sure you aren't just trying to protect your boyfriend, Glory?"

Glory and Boomer both snarled and I suddenly felt very bad for Bowman. "You calling my kid a liar?" Boomer jabbed his finger into the cop's chest.

"It's my job to ask, Boom." He turned back to us and I pulled Glory a bit closer to me. "Given the fact he nearly killed you all at last years homecoming, this sort of stunt seems right up his alley." Glory looked annoyed. She shifted on the couch and I caught the scent of that spice again…cinnamon. That was it. Glory smelled like cinnamon. Bowman turned his attention to me. "Is there anyone that can verify what time you got here, kid?"

"I'm pretty sure that _I_ just told you." Glory pointed to herself with all the attitude an eighteen year old girl can possess and Bowman rolled his eyes.

"Anyone that's not compromised?" he asked tartly. I couldn't help but growl along with Boomer that time. Even though I knew that Glory was, in fact, compromised, the cop had no reason to think that she would be lying to him. My mere presence was bringing her down.

For some reason that thought made me feel like shit.

"Meta," Glory said through clenched teeth. "He's upstairs on the table."

The cops must have already met the rock because they rolled their eyes. Bowman went upstairs and came back tossing Meta into the air and catching it. The black rock jabbered angrily, talking about police brutality. "Alright, chill out," Bowman said. "What time did Lash sneak into the house tonight?"

Way to make me sound like a creep, dude.

Meta made a sound like he was thinking. "Just before midnight I think. He didn't announce the time when he came in. Though they were hardly quiet, were they?" The rock pitched his voice up, mocking Glory's voice. "Oh, Lash, I love you!" The rock drew out the word love, making the statement all the more girly and ridiculous.

"Meta!" Glory turned bright red and lunged forward, but I caught her. Hilarious. The rock was an even better actor than she was. Meta started making kissing sounds and both cops chuckled, mistaking Glory's fury for embarrassment.

I felt her shaking like a leaf next to me. "It's alright, sidekick. We couldn't keep it a secret forever." She blushed even brighter. I had a feeling she would make me pay for that later, but it was so worth it. Her hand was small compared to mine and I laced our fingers together, partly trying to sell our act and partly trying to comfort her. I think it worked because she sunk back against me, slowly relaxing. I don't think anyone has ever _relaxed_ at my touch before.

Grumbling, Glory opened the other evidence bag and sucked in her breath. She dropped the bag with a startled screech and her face was suddenly buried into my chest. Son of a bitch, what the hell happened?

Bowman shot his partner an annoyed look. "You were only supposed to give her the clock, Peretti. She can't do anything with the flowers."

"Flowers?" I looked down at Glory, confused. "You're afraid of flowers?"

"It's the blood." Glory's mom patted her daughter's shoulder and retrieved the bag off the floor. Three white flowers were smeared with a bright, terrible red. "Our Glory doesn't handle blood so well."

I wasn't so worried about the blood. I was looking at the flowers. The stems were as white as the drooping bloom. They were called Indian Pipes, also known as Ghost Flowers.

God, these cops were dumb.

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	15. Diversion

**I own only Glory, Whistler, and Meta. Sky High is property of its respective owners.**

15

**Glory –**

Well, I hadn't been far off. I didn't get bars on my windows, but dad did nail them shut. He was none too pleased about his only daughter fraternizing with a petty criminal. I hadn't thought he could be _more_ disappointed in me since I had become a sidekick…so wrong. He glared at me every time he laid eyes on me. I started taking on more shifts downtown, just to get away from the overwhelming stench of failure that was permeating the house.

For a week I all but lived in the evidence lock up at the police station, refusing to think of the tension at home or the fact that I had helped Lash get away with murder. Almost literally. My stomach clenched at the very thought of him. I knew he was innocent of the actual deed, but he had been there. He knew what had happened. He could have said something to put Whistler in solitary, but he was allowing…_we_ were allowing a killer to remain at large. I was not a villain. I was supposed to catch the bad guys. Not help them. But when it came down to it, I hadn't turned Lash over. I had protected him. Not only protected him, but gone to ridiculous and incredible lengths to protect him.

My world was rapidly getting too complex for my liking. I sighed and dropped my head onto the desk I was sitting at and listened to the office supplies around me talk about the last episode of American Idol. That was exactly the sort of mind numbing drivel I needed…lay it on me.

"Look alive, Glory." An officer moved past and rapped his knuckles on the desk. I twitched back to life. The Maxville Police have an entire team of supers that help them out, so my being there was hardly unusual. There are the obvious heroes like the Commander and Jetstream, the big names that collared the bad guy and posed for the pictures, but there were far more sidekicks like me that worked behind the scenes. There was a girl who could name the exact time when something was going to happen down to the nanosecond. A boy with a freaky sense of smell that was better than any bloodhound. There was even a guy who could tell lies from truths. He was dead useful and a good friend.

"Well, well. Glory, is it?"

I looked up into familiar eyes and blanched. Whistler Livingston was leaning against the desk, completely at ease. And why wouldn't he be? No one but Lash, Speed, and I knew he was a cold blooded killer.

"Ghost," I nodded a return greeting.

He smiled brightly. I'm sure he thought it was charming, but I found him unimpressive. Mentally I recanted my prior decision that he and Lash looked alike. They couldn't be more different. There is a certain chill to Whistler's eyes that is unsettling. Lash doesn't look at people like that, thank God.

"You know you can call me Whistler," he said warmly. "I was hoping I could get a word."

A word? He could have two. Fuck. Off. I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment." I started to get up so I could return a box of evidence back to lock up but he stepped in front of me, effectively blocking my only escape.

"Make time, then."

There was such an obviously malicious tone to his voice I wondered how the others didn't hear it. They worshiped the ground the Ghost floated over, but there was something so significantly off about him…or maybe it was just because his sneakers were at it again.

_He has been waiting to talk to you._

_Be wary, girl._

_He is scheming. _

He had hold of my elbow and was carrying the evidence box back to lock up for me. He pulled the door closed behind us and put the box down. "So."

I waited. Whatever he wanted to say, he'd have to do it without encouragement from me.

"Lash told me you got him out of a jam the other night." He smirked and I realized that Lash probably told him _how_ I got him out of said jam. I fought to control the blush that was inching up my face. "You know, Glory," he took a step toward me and I flinched. God, I hate being a coward. I squared off and remembered that I was a super, too, even if I was pathetically weak in comparison. "You aren't completely untalented. You have potential."

"I do what I can to make the world a better place," I said stiffly. His smirk grew wider.

"I just wanted to tell let you know that I'm aware of you, now. We could help each other. I find your methods of diversion…interesting." He dragged one pale finger along my bruised jaw. "Did my brother do this?" he asked.

"It was an accident," I said quickly. Did I just defend that idiot again? "Apparently something freaked him out the other night."_ Stupid, stupid, stupid._ Why on earth was I sassing the Ghost? He could end me with little more than a thought. It was like my mouth was completely separate from my brain.

Whistler chuckled darkly as I slapped his hand away from my face. "See? You are most entertaining, Glory. I could use someone like you. Are you a freelance sidekick?"

I blinked. Lash never told him I was his sidekick? God, was I so insignificant my own hero didn't even mention me to his brother? My self-esteem took a hit along with my pride, but I kept my face steady. Years of ignoring the constant babble around me had taught me to disregard my own inner voice as well. "I'm unavailable," I said simply. It was true that Lash had never claimed me as his sidekick, but he had never filled out the necessary paperwork to cut me loose, either. I was technically still his hero support.

"Shame." His eyes were scaring me stupid. Whistler had boxed me into the corner of the evidence lock up. I hadn't even realized I had been backing away throughout the conversation until my back hit the wall. "If you change your mind, I'm always around, Glory. I could also use a…diversion." He was so close I could feel his breath on my neck before he disappeared. I crumpled down in the corner of the evidence lock up and tried to keep myself from shaking apart.

Heroes suck.

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	16. Take Out

**I do not own Sky High. I've got dibs on Glory and Whistler. **

16

**Lash –**

It had been a week since I'd seen Speed. The idiot was still in lockdown and would be until Whistler could comfortably pull the strings to get him off. We were letting him sit there a bit longer than was strictly necessary for giving up my name. Whistler was furious with Speed for implicating me. If it hadn't been for the sidekick I'd be in lockdown, too. Thank God for Glory.

I hadn't seen her either. She didn't bothered coming over, and I wasn't about to go back to her house. Boomer had promised to blast me into February if he spotted so much as a stripe on his property. Glory believed him. I believed Glory.

Whistler appeared in my room with a small pop. I hated when he did that. "Dude, knock."

"I don't knock," Whistler said with a grin. "I stopped by the station today. Speed should be out by tomorrow." I must have rolled my eyes because he nodded. "Next time we leave him out of our plans. I hardly think that he's an asset when he rolls over at the drop of a hat. There's no room on the team for that."

"No kidding." I gave up on trying to pirate music and finally gave Whistler my attention. He had apologized for getting me mixed up in a murder and promised that killing had been his only option at the time. I didn't really believe him, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. He gets me jobs, keeps me in cash…I can't complain. He may be a creep, but he's my brother.

"I ran into your girlfriend while I was there." His tone was too casual and I felt sudden irritation.

"Firstly, she isn't my girlfriend. Second, leave her alone."

Whistler laughed and my computer chair vanished from beneath me, teleported out courtesy of my asshole brother. I landed on my back, staring at the ceiling. "She's a wimp, but she could be useful. She didn't seem too enthusiastic about the offer, though."

"You tried to recruit her?" I couldn't help but laugh. Whistler was usually smarter than that. "She might be trouble, but villainy isn't her style, Whistler. She's too damn set on 'good'."

"I noticed." Whistler shrugged. "No worries. I always get what I want, don't I?"

I suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to hit him. It came out of nowhere and for a moment it distracted me from actually doing the deed. Why the hell did I care if Whistler was sniffing around my sidekick?

Wait…she wasn't my sidekick. I didn't _want_ a sidekick. I had been trying for a month to get her to leave me alone…

Alright, that wasn't completely true. She had only hung around for two weeks before she had given up on me. _I _was the one that went tearing into her room in the middle of the night and dragged her into a disastrous cover up.

Maybe it wasn't completely disastrous.

I did get to second base with her, after all.

"Well, well." Whistler lounged on my bed, smirking at me. "Am I stepping on your toes, baby brother?"

"I don't care what you do," I mumbled. "I'd like my chair back."

It reappeared with a _thump_. "Christ, Lash, you are in a foul mood. You hungry?"

No. I was fucking annoyed. "I could eat."

"Come on, I'll take you out." Whistler didn't wait for my answer. He just blinked us both out of the room.

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	17. My Lie Detector

17

**Glory –**

I just wanted to go home. My day had been complete crap and I was fighting down the sudden desire to hide under my bed until Whistler forgot about me and my involvement in Lash's cover up. Matt wasn't being all that accommodating, though, and I found myself being dragged along the sidewalk toward downtown Maxville. We were on a dinner hunt.

"Burgers?"

I nodded, not really caring. "Anything but Chinese food is good."

There was a grunt of agreement. We had been boycotting the Paper Lantern for months. The food was decent enough, but it's always crowded. You would think it was the only restaurant in Maxville, the way the line was out the door most nights. A lot of high school kids went there to ogle the busboy, so we've just been haunting the pub downtown. We aren't old enough to drink, but the burgers are amazing. Best of all, the Warren Peace fan club isn't there.

In case you haven't guessed, I find them annoying.

"Food." Matt scrambled toward a booth finally letting go of my arm. With a reluctant sigh, I sank down into a seat. "Chill out, Matt."

Matthew Connelly was another loose sidekick working at the station. He's the living, breathing polygraph, and one of the few real people that can get past my power. It's a returned favor really. Neither of us can lie to the other. He knows automatically if I'm not being honest, and if he lies, his clothes rat him out in a second. We…understand each other.

Poor Matt. He's got an awesome power, but dad never saw much active use for it against giant robots and bank robbers. So, Matt was dumped into hero support classes. He graduated two years ahead of me and is just one more underappreciated sidekick working for Maxville Police. It's a shame, too. He's brilliant.

Matt frowned at me, concerned. "What's up with you?"

"I'm fine." Even as the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

"Liar."

I glared at Matt and contemplated kicking him. It would make me feel better. "Alright, so fine is an exaggeration. I'm adequate."

He rolled his eyes. I knew how to get around his power and it bothered him. It's all in the phrasing. "So glad to hear it. Who wouldn't want to be _adequate_? Come on, what's up with you, Glory? You've been avoiding me all week which means either I've pissed you off or you're hiding something."

"Don't ask," I ordered immediately. "I really don't want to lie to you, but I will. You know I will."

"Oh, it's something good." Matt grinned and rapped on the table. "What happened? You pregnant?"

I laughed. Matt always knew how to make me feel better. "Uh…no."

He shrugged and pulled on one of my curls. "Then cheer up, it can't be that bad." He smiled kindly and I forced myself to relax. Matt was right. It wasn't so bad. I was being threatened by the Ghost, my dad was refusing to speak to me, and my supposed hero was…well, I didn't know what to say about Lash other than he was the only person alive that was able to irritate me without actually being near me.

"Sorry, Mattie, I can't tell you," I said, patting his hand.

"Why not?" Matt and I were leaned into the table, talking in raised whispers to avoid our conversation from being overheard. We probably looked like we were plotting something awful, but we were regulars and the waitress gave us some time to sit, unwind, and talk.

"Because I'm an idiot and…and that's it. I'm an idiot."

Matt grinned and laughed. "Want to hear something fantastic? I got nothing from that. You're telling the truth. You really think you're an idiot." I snorted, trying not to laugh.

"Well, don't you two look cozy?" A shadow fell over us and we looked up startled.

Whatever clever remark I had been ready to fire back at Matt died in my throat.

Whistler and Lash stood by the table, looking down at us.

We should have gone for Chinese food.

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	18. Poof

18

**Lash –**

I didn't recognize the guy, but I immediately didn't like him. He looked like some frat boy Ken doll and was bowed over the table talking to Glory. She was laughing and whispering to him happily.

I gritted my teeth, annoyed for no good reason. That was _my_ sidekick. No...it was...whatever, she didn't have to be such a pain in the ass.

"Well, don't you two look cozy?" Whistler went over to the table, with me a step behind. "It looks like your girlfriend has a boyfriend, Lash. Hello again, Glory."

"You know the Ghost?" Glory's date looked at her with awe. He stood up and shook Whistler's hand. "I'm Matt Connelly. Move over, Glory, let them sit with us. That is, if you want," he said to Whistler.

Glory shook her head, "Matt, I don't think—"

I didn't give her a chance to tell us to get lost. I sat next to her and pulled her hair. "Hey, sidekick. Miss me?"

"No." Glory's jaw was tense and out of the corner of my eye I saw 'Matt Connelly' twitch and frown at us. "What are you _doing_ here, Lash?"

She was in a shit mood and I put my hands up in mock surrender. "I'm hungry," I said simply. "What's your problem?"

She snarled and turned away so she wouldn't have to look at me.

"So sidekick love…who knew?" Whistler said with a prickly smile. "And I thought I knew all of the station gossip."

Matt laughed. "No, we aren't…I mean, Glory's not…she's too much work."

Whistler looked over at my sidekick with a raised eyebrow. "That's…interesting."

Glory and I both tensed at his assessing gaze. Her nails were digging into the fabric of the booth, and I carefully peeled her fingers back. "Take it easy," I said quietly. She snatched her hand away like I was somehow poisonous.

My brother had a polite smile on as Matt prattled on and on about some business at the station and Glory smacked my arm while they were distracted. "Are you trying to make me crazy?" she demanded.

I grinned. I was feeling much better about things now that I knew guy smiley wasn't trying to steal my sidekick... wait, no, not my sidekick. Ugh, why did I care? I stretched and put my arms on the back of the booth. "What's the matter, Glory? Did we crash your _date_?"

Glory looked at me like she was a heartbeat away from throttling me. "This isn't a date, you moron. Matt's just keeping me out because thanks to _you _things have gotten seriously chilly at home."

"Oh." I hated that I always sounded like an idiot around her. No wonder she thought I was a moron. "You could have just hung out at my place. You've been stalking me for a month anyway."

Glory flexed her fingers like she was itching to pinch me. "Hardly. Incase you didn't notice, _you_ followed _us_ here." She looked smug. "Besides you've missed me. You're jeans say so, and denim is a very reliable fabric."

I scoffed and cast a quick glance at Whistler. He was still listening to Matt but he was watching Glory intently, his eyes burning into her. I moved closer to her without thinking and Whistler smirked before he returned his attention to Matt. My leg was flushed against hers. I saw her try to scoot away, but she had reached the corner of the booth. There was nowhere for her to go. "I don't miss you."

Matt twitched. "Whatever he just said, he's a liar," he said frowning. He rubbed his ears. "Big, giant, monster sized fib. My ears are still ringing."

Glory almost smiled. "I already knew. Thanks, Matt." She looked at me. "Matt's a polygraph."

Whistler growled and Matt suddenly vanished from the table. Glory gasped, looking around wildly. "What did you do to him?" She turned her eyes on Whistler and shrunk back against the booth furious and frightened at the same time. "Where is he?"

Whistler didn't answer. He looked annoyed. "Did you know that Glory's little friend was a lie detector?" he asked me.

I shook my head. This was bad. _Really _bad. "Come on, Whistler, don't."

"What did you do to my friend?" Glory snapped.

Glory vanished from beside me and reappeared on Whistler's side of the booth. She let out a strangled sound and looked around for an escape, but Whistler grabbed hold of her face. She squirmed in pain and I slammed my fist on the table, earning our table a few disapproving stares.

"Leave. Her. Alone." I don't fight with my brother. There isn't much point since he can kick my ass six ways to Wednesday, but Glory was seriously freaking out. Normally I find other people's fear entertaining but...I didn't like this. "Whistler, bring her friend back and let's just go."

Whistler glared at me and for a moment I thought his shiny rep was about to be smashed into a million pieces. I mean he could hardly kill me in the middle of a crowded bar and still be considered a hero. His lip curled back and Whistler bared his teeth.

"We'll talk about this later," Whistler hissed in Glory's ear. She shivered violently, turning away from him. He glared at me next. "I'll see you at home." He disappeared without another word.

For a moment Glory and I just stared at each other across the table. "You stood up for me." I hated that she sounded surprised.

I didn't know what to say, so I went with the first thing that came to my mind. "Well, I'm your hero, aren't I?"

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	19. All I've Done is Care

**Sky High is property of its owners. I only own Glory, Whistler, and Matt.**

19

**Glory –**

We left before anything else could go wrong.

"What's he going to do to Matt?" I asked the second we were outside. I screeched to a halt, my mind trying to wrap around our sudden danger. "Shit, Lash…what is he going to do to you?"

He snorted and his arm whipped out to drag me along. "Don't worry about me," he said shrugging. "But your friend is toast."

"Toast?" He rubbed his ear after I practically screeched the word at him. "What are we going to do?"

Lash shrugged. "I thought we'd go to McDonalds."

"McDonalds?" What the hell was he talking about? "Why?"

"I want fries." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and I was crazy for having to ask. He didn't look worried. He didn't look upset. Lash just looked mildly inconvenienced and annoyed that he had to drag me.

I dug my heels in, jerking him to a halt. "We can't just leave him…Lash!"

He started pulling me along the sidewalk again and I had to walk or risk being tugged along on my ass. "Look, Glory, I'm not super thrilled that your little boyfriend just got poofed off to France, or wherever Whistler drops his problems, but there is literally nothing we can do. So light a candle, and cover the mirrors, Matt's not coming back."

"Not…coming back?" Even _I _knew I sounded pathetic. "But we could report it, couldn't we? Can't we—"

Lash's arm unwound so fast, I felt a breeze. "What's with all of this 'we' shit? That's my brother. I'm on _his_ side. Not yours."

Ah, the Lash I knew and loved was back. He never failed to disappoint. "So all of that crap back in the pub…the whole 'leave her alone', protective, heroic posturing—"

"You know you could show a little more gratitude," he interrupted again. He wasn't mad. He was completely indifferent. Lash started walking again, leaving me to decide to follow him or not. "I'm going to catch hell when I go home for even defending you, and you expect _more_?"

"I expect _better_." I grabbed one of his arms. He kept running his hand through his hair and I needed to stop him it. It was a nervous gesture, and I didn't want him being nervous. I needed him to wake up and _do_ something. "Please, Lash. He's my friend."

He laughed bitterly. "Would you get this upset over me?" he demanded. "Would you care if it was me? Because there is a fifty-fifty chance that I'll be getting whatever treatment your boyfriend's getting once Whistler catches up with me."

I couldn't stop myself. I clocked him clean across the face. It was the second time I had punched him in the mouth for being an idiot and I'm pretty sure I broke my hand on his fucking rubber jaw. "What the hell was that for?" His arms went around me with a growl.

"You just asked me if I would care. Are you really that stupid? I have done nothing _but_ care, Lash. I have tried over and over again to be your friend. I spent two weeks of my summer sitting on your porch while you and Speed made fun of me. I had to listen to other people rave about how much fun they were having with their heroes, and all the good they were doing. I went against everything I believed in and saved your ass from lockdown after your _brother_ hung you out to dry, and you still have the fucking audacity to ask _me if I care_?"

There was a moment of silence after my outburst and Lash looked like he was about to bolt. His arms slowly unwound as he powered down, but the stayed around me. He was hugging me.

Lash Livingston was hugging me and I was hugging him back.

"Alright enough of this crap," he said into my neck. "You want Matt back, there's only one person we can go to."

Finally.

"Who?" He led me down the street, his hand wrapped around my arm like he was afraid I was going to run off. I heard him sigh and mutter something, but I couldn't have heard him right. It was too ridiculous. "I'm sorry, say that again?"

Lash looked at me with a small smile and repeated himself.

"My mom."

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	20. Family

19

**Lash –**

"Ma? We're in."

I hauled Glory in the door and froze , uncertain if Whistler was somewhere in the house already. I didn't think he'd go home, but he was a bit unpredictable. I could never be sure what he would do. Blinking a guy out of the pub for instance…I hadn't seen that coming. After a tense moment I sighed, relieved. He wasn't there.

"Glory Boomer." Ma peeked her head out of the kitchen and smiled at us. "Well, missy, you've certainly done a number on your future. Coats and shoes in the hall, kids, then set the table, Lash. I saw you coming and started dinner." She ducked back into the kitchen and left Glory and I staring after her.

Glory looked up at me in awe. "You're mom's a precog? That is so cool."

"Sort of," I answered slowly. Ma _is_ a precog, a Seer, but it's specific. Very, _very_ specific. So specific it's almost not worth calling a power. She can See where dad is whenever she wants. She knows what Whistler and I get up to before we even do it, and she's been keeping tabs on grandma down in Holiday City, Florida since she made the move. Her Sight is for family only. Just family.

Which is why I was suddenly _incredibly _concerned that she could see Glory. Curious, I gestured for Glory to follow me into the kitchen. Ma was stirring something on the stove and we sat at the counter while she cooked.

"Since when do you See outsiders, ma?"

"No outsiders here, Lash." She stuck a spoon under my nose and I took the obligatory taste of whatever was being presented.

"It tastes fine, ma. How—"

"Put this in your mouth and be quiet." She handed me a bread heel with a small smile. Glory snorted next to me and tried to cover her laughter with a cough. "Feel free to laugh openly at him, Glory. He needs to get used to it. You're going to be around for a while."

"Yes, ma'am." Glory grinned. She was looking around with interest but kept touching her ears like they were bothering her. "Guess you need a sidekick after all," she said to me smugly.

Mom cracked some spaghetti and dropped into another pot. "Now, before we start talking…Glory, is there something in your purse you might want to get?"

Glory stared blankly for a moment before she gasped and fled the room with a small cry.

The second she was gone I leaned over the counter. "Can you See her?" Mom nodded and I stared at her blankly. "But I thought you could only see family. Oh, God…she's not a cousin or something is she because if she is—"

"Hush." She slid a large bowl and a cutting board toward me. "I know what you're worried about and it's alright… Veggies in the crisper, Lash. Get to it. Don't put the onions in. Glory doesn't like them."

She wasn't telling me something. "Ma?"

"She's in danger, Lash. But not tonight. Tonight we can eat dinner in peace."

I let out a sigh of relief. Alright. We would be ok. "But her friend—" She gave a slight shake of her head, her eyes sad.

Ma put a finger to her lips as Glory came back in the kitchen trying in vain to apologize to Meta. "Don't you _ever_ put me at the bottom of that fucking bag again. I was stuck between a half dissolved stick of trident and your birth control pills, Glory… do you know what that's _like_?"

Glory blushed furiously. "Language, Meta!"

"When was the last time you cleaned that thing? I'm covered in _lint_! Lint, Glory!"

Glory looked apologetically at my mom. "I am so sorry, Mrs. Livingston. He's not usually so rude."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, he is."

Glory sent me a withering look and put Meta on the counter between us. "Oh, goodie. You're with the _hero_," the rock said dryly. "You two make me sick."

"Will you be quiet you miserable thing?" Glory held up a finger threateningly and Meta fell silent before she did it for him.

Ma laughed lightly to herself. "Give the cutting board to Glory, Lash, and go set the table. I need a word with your…friend."

Glory clutched my sleeve for a moment, and I knew what she was thinking.

Don't leave.

I tugged on one of her curls and grinned. "Take it easy, sidekick. She doesn't bite."

I grabbed the plates and silverware before I went to the dining room. I cast a last look at Glory as I went. She didn't look like she believed me.

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	21. Of Free Will and Salad

_Sorry I've been gone so long. I was out of sorts with this story for a while. I couldn't properly write it when I was mad at it. Special love to Melody of Words for reminding me that my story is worth finishing. -Ace_

**Sky High is property of its respective owners. I only own Glory and Whistler.**

20

**Glory –**

"Mrs. Livingston, not that I don't appreciate the dinner invitation and all, but—"

She cut me off before I could even finish my sentence. I wondered if that's where Lash got his interrupting habit. "Your friend was not injured, Glory. Whistler simply abandoned him somewhere overseas. His life is not in danger." She smiled. "You can enjoy eating with us tonight without a troubled mind."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and slumped a bit. "Thank God." I looked up at her and tried to control the anger in my voice. "You see the future… you know what Whistler's been doing. Why haven't you _stopped_ him? How can you let him get away with murder and…and…" I didn't know what to classify Matt's relocation as so I let it fizzle out.

Mrs. Livingston sighed deeply and pointed to Lash's abandoned bowl and cutting board. Begrudgingly, I started chopping lettuce. "What I see…it changes based on the decisions we all make. For instance. If someone else decided they were going to murder one of my sons, his future would simply vanish. I wouldn't be able to see him anymore. Or if one of my sons made a choice to keep someone around…my sight would suddenly extend to that new person and her future."

I wasn't stupid, I knew what she was getting at. Lash was going to keep me as his sidekick. "Me."

"You," Mrs. Livingston nodded. "Now if I started meddling in your future, hedging you in, manipulating, trapping you into the future that I wanted for you..."

I sighed, annoyed by her valid point. "Free will," I muttered. "But he's killing innocent people. Can't you turn him in?"

"That is not his future." She turned back to the stove. "In the past, I made the decision to give Whistler over to the authorities. I saw what that outcome would be. It would be worse, Glory. Not better. No. As it stands, Whistler will face his equals and be undone by them." She shook her head. "Listen to me troubling you with the future. Where _are _my manners? We have bigger things we need to worry about. Namely, keeping you safe. Whistler won't come back here tonight, but tomorrow is something else entirely."

I dumped the chopped lettuce into the salad bowl. "He's coming after me?" I asked, fear making my voice too high. "But… but I'm nobody important."

Mrs. Livingston looked at me sharply. "That's not true," she said gently. "You're very important, to Lash especially."

"I don't think—" I started, but she was quick to cut me off.

Again.

"I saw what happened tonight, Glory. The way Whistler handled you and Lash's reaction… I have to admit that it was good to see my youngest son making good choices for a change. Thank you for that." She smiled beautifully at me and I sighed, dumping the carrots I'd been chopping into the bowl.

"Lash is… difficult," I said, not wanting to call him a fucking idiot in front of his mother. "He doesn't even _want _to be my hero."

If possible her smile got even wider. "Of course he does, Glory. Take it from me. Lash wants very much to be your hero."

"But—"

"Taste this." A spoon was all but shoved in my mouth and I obediently took a taste of the sauce. I nodded my approval, knowing full well that if I tried to speak, I'd just be interrupted.

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_Alright, we're about to take a vote. some smoooooching coming up soon? Yes? No? I'm interested. I've been out of this fandom so long, I can't remember what y'all like. -Ace_


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